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Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Gen Con 2012 was a BLAST! The best part of Gen Con for me, is always meeting people. This year, I was able to meet several different game designers that I've talked with online, but never met in person. It was great to put a face to the names and be able to jump right into a game design conversation and chat openly, like old friends getting back together. The biggest meetup event was organized by The Game Crafter, the company I use to print my games, and there were several game designers and reviewers that showed up at Scotty's Brewhouse that night.

Most of my time at Gen Con this year was spent demoing my games to people in the food court areas, random passersby, and in the lobby of the JW Marriott. I spent some time each day in the dealers hall as well, checking out the new games and seeing how The Game Crafter posted their mascot COG.

And speaking of mascots, I had commissioned a felt version of my logo from Anna Walker (@FELTit), whom I met last year at Gen Con with her husband Randall Walker (@deadorcs), and her work more than exceeded my expectations! Also, Anna and Randall are some of the coolest people I have had the pleasure to meet.

On Sunday, I was the "featured designer" in The Game Crafter's booth. I coincided this event with the release of my new game Robot Repair Crew and also had several copies of Arena of Heroes and Reversal of Fortune on hand for demoing and for sale. I was surprised at the amount of interested kids had in Robot Repair Crew. They all seemed to be drawn in by the bright colors of the cards and the idea of building their own robots. I think it helped that COG was standing there by the table as well. What better way to help sell a robot building game, than to be setup right next to an eight foot robot? Sometimes things just work out like that.

Besides all the game demoing and meeting people, there really were a lot of cool things I saw this year. I'm really excited about the Andriod: Netrunner two player card game, I didn't get to play it myself, but watched several of the demos and have put it on my Christmas list. I know that it's a re-release, and I had never heard of or played the original game, but from the demos, it really feels like a Shadowrun mini game between a Decker and a corporation to me. Another new game that looked fantastic is Leviathans, set in an alternative history where airship battled the skies in the early 1900s. There's already a couple of expansion for it as well, adding a British fleet and a French fleet. The last new game I'd like to mention is the Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game. I watched a few demos of it as well, and it looks like a lot of fun, especially with the "blind movement" where everyone marks their moves first, then reveals them together. The one down side I see to this game, is the cost. Adding a single ship to your fleet with cost you $15, which feels a bit steep to me.